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Anomaly Research Centre:Exclusives/Danny Rahim Interview
Primeval: New World unit publicist Crystal Braunwarth put ZEM in contact with Danny Rahim for an interview. Danny Rahim plays Mac Rendell in New World. Thank you very much Danny for your patience and answers to my questions! ---- as Mac Rendell]] ---- 1. How did you become involved in Primeval: New World? I auditioned in the UK for Katie Newman, who was involved in the UK version at Impossible Pictures. I went in and met those guys for a couple of meetings and after about a week and a half was offered the part. 2. Do you know if anyone else auditioned for the role? A few close friends of mine auditioned for the role, actually. I think in total there may have been about 30 or 40 people that auditioned, in the UK anyway. 3. What were your first thoughts about the role? I was really excited. There is a lot that is uncovered about Mac through the storyline, that was kept a secret from me, but the basics were that he was a fun-loving guy. There was a lot of mystery to him, I was very excited. They described him as an adrenaline junkie who loved extreme sports, who has a love of life. That’s perfect, because that’s me. When I read it, it was very exciting to know there was an opportunity to work in North America with some other very talented actors. 4. Were you familiar with the original Primeval? ''' I knew of it, I knew of the original series. But I hadn’t watched any of it, too busy watching The Sopranos and all the big HBO dramas. When I’m travelling around with my laptop, I often just have a few series and I watch those, it’s very rare that I actually sit down and watch the TV. But obviously, before I auditioned for the part, I watched a couple of little bits, just to get a sense of what the dynamic and tone of the show was. When it came to being offered the part, I spoke to Martin, and he said because of the journey my character takes, it’s probably best that I don’t watch it all, so I’m not familiar with all the terminologies, because Mac is brought into this world, he starts as a security guard, and eventually it all unraveled for him. Therefore, it was great because when they’re describing all the weaponry and dinosaurs, I have no idea what they’re talking about. Particularly Toby, Toby’s character is played by Crystal Lowe, she has a lot of technical jargon, which Mac is always puzzled by. It kind of lent itself very well to that. '''5. Does your character get a lot of interaction with the creatures? He does. He meets his first dinosaur in Episode 1 and then through the series. In every episode we encounter a dinosaur. 6. Did you have any previous experience with CGI? No, I had no experience with CGI. It was a completely new genre (sci-fi), for me. It was very exciting to work with green screen and Chuck, in a gray suit - it was almost like a morph suit – playing all the dinosaurs. It was very funny the first time I saw him, actually, because he’s so good at it. It is funny to see a guy morph into a dinosaur and he does it really well. It really helps us actually, as it helps us understand what the dinosaur is doing, because quite often if you’re imagining something, everyone’s interpretation of what that dinosaur is will be different. It is important for the show that everybody is seeing the same thing, doing the same thing, so our reactions are unified. 7. How is New World different from or similar to your previous work? It is completely different, because I’ve never worked with a dinosaur or any CGI, I’ve got nothing to compare it to. A lot of it is left to the imagination. Everything else I’ve done on TV has been playing real characters, real people and real relationships – whereas here you’re forging all of those, you’re fabricating all of those – a lot is left to the imagination in creating this world – this New World. 8. What can you tell us about Mac Rendell? ' Mac Rendell had a pretty tough upbringing, his dad passed away, his mom wasn’t very well, he grew up on a council estate in the UK and a lot of his friends, although they were good people, on these estates they can sometimes really lack opportunity, and a lot of them went into crime. Mac could see himself getting pulled into this world, and Evan shows up and offers him a job in North America. And Mac, being the character that he is, the glass is always half full and he loves opportunity, so he takes this opportunity to go and start a new life. So he goes over to North America, and starts working at Cross Photonics, Evan offered him a job as a security guard. He is eventually introduced to the team. He is a very loyal guy, he’s a very lovable, friendly character. He cares a lot about his friends, and I think that is shown throughout the show. '''9. What is Mac’s role on the team? ' He is the guy with the weapons; he is the protector of the group. He is always making sure everybody is safe and looking out for them. Toby in particular, she always runs off with her anomaly detector, she’s not looking for the bigger picture, she is just trying to make sure we’re running in the right direction to find the anomalies, so he is there to watch her back and protect her. That’s Mac’s role within the team, he is sort of the overseer who makes sure everyone is safe. '''10. Do you appear in all 13 episodes of Season 1? I appear in 12 of 13. 11. Did you have any memorable moments on set that you would like to share with the fans? Every day is a memorable day on set. Just working with these guys has been incredible, every individual, outside of their character, offers so much – Geoff is funny, Miranda is a fantastic actress to learn from, and obviously the top two, Niall and Sara, they’re just fantastic people to work with day in and day out. We just have so much fun! Mac does some really cool stuff, stuff that I couldn’t dream of doing in my normal life – but I don’t want to spoil that. Keep your eyes peeled. 12. Is there anything else that you’d like to tell Primeval fans about the show? You’re going to love it. It’s a fantastic team. Everybody on that show is so passionate about what they’re doing. When you have so many people, the cast, the crew, the writers… so enthusiastic, you’re going to have a good product. I hope you will enjoy what we’ve made, but we’re all very happy with what we’ve done. 13. Do you have a favorite character in New World? All the characters offer so much… I really like Ken, Ken Leeds is such a great character. He surprises us throughout the show, from where we see him in the first episode to the way we see him at the end of the season. And Geoff himself is a hilarious guy, he plays him so well. He is kind of this haphazard character in the beginning, but as it unravels you see more and more, he isn’t as lame as he seems – he’s really intelligent. It’s a really nice twist that Geoff gets to play throughout the show. 14. Do you have a favorite creature in the show? The creature that we have, a Pteranodon, in Episode 1, that’s probably one of my favorites. We’ve seen rough cuts of that, it’s probably the only formed dinosaur at the moment. And, it’s Mac’s first interaction with a dinosaur. It just looks epic! It looks absolutely fantastic! If that’s anything to go by – the show is going to look great! 15. Do you have a favorite episode out of Season 1 of New World? The finale, is obviously, epic. The stuff that we get to do, all the characters have been established, all the characters you’ve seen are pretty much involved in the finale. The double finale is going to be really cool. Those two together. Because we just finished filming, everyone is on such a high, we had such a great time doing it, I think those are going to be very memorable. There a few early on that are really cool, but I can give any of that away and spoil it for you. ---- Note: All opinions expressed in interviews belong solely to the crew or cast member interviewed, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of ZEM, Primeval Wiki or Omni Film Productions. Category:Primeval Wiki Exclusives